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TOPSTORIESen-caTue, 3 Mar 2015 15:46:38 ESTTue, 3 Mar 2015 15:46:38 ESTCopyright Toronto Star 1996-2013 , http://www.thestar.com/termshttp://www.thestar.com60TORONTO STARhttp://www.thestar.com/etc/designs/thestar/images/general/thestar_250x40.pnghttp://www.thestar.com/feeds.topstories.full.rss
Commons committee on anti-terror law invites testimony from retired spies, judges, Homeland Security http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/03/03/commons-committee-on-anti-terror-law-invites-testimony-from-retired-spies-judges-homeland-security.html
518253ba-aa17-463e-9b06-390c9194a2b3Tue, 3 Mar 2015 15:16:42 EST<img src="http://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/canada/2015/03/03/commons-committee-on-anti-terror-law-invites-testimony-from-retired-spies-judges-homeland-security/maher-arar.jpg"><br/><p>OTTAWA&#x2014;The House of Commons committee studying the Conservatives&#x2019; controversial new anti-terror law is expected to call retired spies, former politicians and some of Bill C-51&#x2019;s harshest critics to testify. </p><p>A draft witness list obtained by the Star shows the committee will invite about 70 people to fill the 48 speaking slots on the bill.</p><p>The list includes former Supreme Court justices, lawyers and academics, as well as retired politicians. Law enforcement and security officials, both active and retired, are also expected to appear to discuss the legislation. High-ranking officials from some of Canada&#x2019;s closest security partners will also be invited to testify. </p><p>The Conservatives, who enjoy a majority on the committee, originally intended to limit testimony on the bill to just four meetings, but later conceded to eight. </p><p>The hearings will begin next Tuesday with an appearance by Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney, the sponsor of the bill, and Justice Minister Peter MacKay.</p><p>According to the committee&#x2019;s list, other potential witnesses include:</p><li><a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2010/06/14/rcmp_goes_global_with_maher_arar_torture_probe.html">Maher Arar</a>, whose rendition and torture in Syria led to a federal inquiry into Canada&#x2019;s security agencies&#x2019; cooperation with American spies.</li><li>Justice Dennis O&#x2019;Connor, the former associate chief justice of Ontario who led the Arar inquiry. </li><p><li name="online_link" class="character" displayname="online_link"><a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/01/24/chuck_strahl_quits_as_chair_of_spy_watchdog_agency.html">http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/01/24/chuck_strahl_quits_as_chair_of_spy_watchdog_agency.html </a></li>Chuck Strahl and <a href="http://www.sirc-csars.gc.ca/abtprp/ccmcma/gredeb-eng.html">Debra Grey</a>, the former and current head of CSIS&#x2019;s review committee, respectively, and former Conservative politicians.</p><li>U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.</li><li>Craig Forcese and Kent Roach, two academics who have <a href="http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/02/17/bill-c-51-moves-us-one-step-closer-to-the-end-of-privacy.html">raised serious concerns</a> about Bill C-51.</li><li>Louise Arbour, a retired Supreme Court justice.</li><li>Anne McLellan, a former Liberal cabinet minister who oversaw the implementation of Canada&#x2019;s 2001 anti-terror regime. </li><p>A number of groups representing Canada&#x2019;s Muslim population, including the Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association and the Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow, have been invited. </p><p>Under C-51, the intelligence agency would be <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/01/30/terror-bill-dramatically-increases-police-power.html">given police-like powers</a> to interrupt and &#x201c;disrupt&#x201d; threats to Canada&#x2019;s security. That covers terrorism, but also threats to Canadian &#x201c;critical infrastructure,&#x201d; the economy and diplomatic relations. </p><p>The legislation allows CSIS to take a broad range of action &#x2014; only explicitly ruling out physical harm, causing death, violating someone&#x2019;s sexual integrity, and directly subverting the law &#x2014; without any increased oversight of the spy agency&#x2019;s activities. </p><p>Currently, CSIS can only gather intelligence and pass it along to law-enforcement agencies, such as the RCMP. </p>
Alex Boutilier - Staff ReporterMaher Arar is one of about 70 people invited to speak before a committee studying the federal government's anti-terror legislation.TOM HANSONThe Canadian Press file photo<a rel="author" href="http://www.thestar.com/authors.boutilier_alex.html">Alex Boutilier</a>Staff ReporterKathleen Wynne pledges ‘more rational’ wine and beer saleshttp://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2015/03/03/kathleen-wynne-pledges-more-rational-wine-and-beer-sales.html
ddcbd224-2d4b-4f93-9ede-e53e74e1f0c8Tue, 3 Mar 2015 11:30:35 EST<img src="http://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/queenspark/2015/03/03/kathleen-wynne-pledges-more-rational-wine-and-beer-sales/wine-rack.jpg"><br/><p>Premier Kathleen Wynne is promising a &#x201c;more rational&#x201d; system of selling wine and beer in Ontario.</p><p>One day after Wynne told Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb the province would soon have &#x201c;a lot more open&#x201d; wine market, the premier underscored that changes ahead will benefit consumers and the treasury.</p><p>&#x201c;I assured him that that&#x2019;s part of the work Ed Clark is doing,&#x201d; she said Tuesday, referring to the former TD Bank chair who&#x2019;s leading a panel reviewing the anachronistic way <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/lcbo-beer-store.html">wine and beer</a> are sold in Ontario.</p><p>&#x201c;I&#x2019;m not going to pre-empt his report. But there is an opportunity here,&#x201d; the premier said, noting Clark&#x2019;s conclusions would be part of Finance Minister Charles Sousa&#x2019;s spring budget.</p><p>&#x201c;We want these assets to work as well as possible for the people of Ontario. All of that is about finding ways to optimize these assets. Yes, to make the system more rational . . . but also to realize a funding stream, realize money that&#x2019;s going to be invested in . . . infrastructure,&#x201d; said Wynne.</p><p>&#x201c;There will be some changes coming as a result of that work. I&#x2019;m making an assumption that there are aspects of the liquor system in Ontario, the alcohol industry in Ontario, that are not as rational as they could be,&#x201d; she said.</p><p>&#x201c;If we were setting up a system today it would likely look different than it would have in 1925.&#x201d;</p><p>Richard Linley, president of the <a href="http://www.winecouncilofontario.ca/">Wine Council of Ontario</a>, said his organization is ready to work with government.</p><p>&#x201c;As an industry, we believe there are options that will create economic opportunity for both Ontario&#x2019;s <a href="http://winecountryontario.ca/wine-101/what-is-vqa">VQA wine</a> industry and the government, while improving convenience and choice for consumers,&#x201d; Linley said.</p><p>VQA wine is Vintners Quality Alliance wine, which is made entirely with Ontario grown grapes.</p><p>&#x201c;Our goal is to work with the government to ensure more VQA wine is accessible to Ontario&#x2019;s wine consumers, while boosting government revenues and complementing the role of the LCBO,&#x201d; Linley said.</p><p>Their comments came as the Star&#x2019;s <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2015/03/03/wine-rack-wine-shop-face-major-shakeup-cohn.html">Martin Regg Cohn</a> revealed the Liberal government is considering a major reorganization of how the foreign-owned Wine Rack and private Wine Shop chains operate.</p><p>That&#x2019;s over and beyond changes that appear to be on the horizon for the <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2015/02/05/beer-store-threatens-legal-action-to-protect-monopoly-cohn.html">Beer Store</a>, the private monopoly owned by the offshore parents of Labatt, Molson, and Sleeman that runs 448 outlets across the province.</p><p>The 164-outlet Wine Rack, owned by U.S.-based Constellation Brands, and the 104-outlet Wine Shop, owned by Canada&#x2019;s Andrew Peller Ltd., are exempted from the publicly owned LCBO&#x2019;s 66.5 per cent markup, instead paying a much lower tax rate of 16.1 per cent for blended wines sold on their own shelves.</p><p>But, as is required by law, the two private wine chains charge the same retail price as the LCBO, which has 639 stores, for the same products, enabling them to earn higher profits on those bottles.</p><p>That&#x2019;s one reason the Liberals are looking at reclaiming or rewriting a large portion of those wine-store licences that could then be reissued or repurposed for new alcohol retailers.</p><p>Such a move could level the vineyard playing field for smaller Ontario wineries as well as bring in more money to the treasury.</p><p>While Wynne again ruled out the sale of wine and beer in convenience stores on Tuesday she refused to speculate about supermarkets, like Loblaws, or big-box retailers, such as Costco.</p><p>&#x201c;I&#x2019;m going to wait for Ed Clark to bring his report forward. Just to be clear we had already talked about &#x2018;express stores.&#x2019; There had already been a discussion about &#x2018;express stores&#x2019; that would be attached to the LCBO in different venues so that&#x2019;s not new information,&#x201d; she said.</p><p>That&#x2019;s a reference to the LCBO express store scheme quietly iced earlier this year because bigger changes are set to be uncorked.</p>
Robert Benzie - Queen's Park Bureau ChiefThe Liberal government is considering a major reorganization of how the Wine Rack and Wine Shop chains operate that could include reclaiming or rewriting a large portion of their licences.Andrew Francis WallaceToronto Star<a rel="author" href="http://www.thestar.com/authors.benzie_rob.html">Robert Benzie</a>Queen's Park Bureau ChiefFormer deputy education minister Benjamin Levin pleads guilty to child porn charges http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2015/03/03/guilty-plea-expected-in-ben-levin-child-porn-case.html
e00d2c79-07e3-4757-9307-9a4dd226ce52Tue, 3 Mar 2015 07:45:53 EST
Diana Mehta - The Canadian Press